Presbyterian Church
Kelso Village, Kelson Township, Traill County, North Dakota 58045

Kelso Village ships Grain

The village of Kelso is located on the south bank of the Elm River in Kelso Township. Large quantities of grain from the fertile farms surrounding it were shipped from its location on the Burlington Northern Railroad, formerly the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Manitoba Railway. Before the railroad was built in 1880, wheat was hauled to Fargo, by way of Quincy, in wagons usually drawn by oxen.

Kelso was originally called Safford when platted by A.A.  White in 1881, and the name was changed to Kelso the following year when the post office was established. The town was located in the center of the L.S. Safford and A.L. Wentworth holdings of 1600 acres. Mr. Safford, the first settler, came from Maine in 1875, and Mr. Wentworth shortly thereafter. Around the turn of the century, Kelso boasted a depot, post office, two stores, blacksmith shop, three grain elevators, lumber yard, one room school, a Presbyterian Church and a Congregational Church. The population of Kelso village, not Kelso township, probably never exceeded thirty or thirty-five.

Info from - Traill County History Volume II (page 10)